Miami Fusion

Fusion trump resort 4

Wolk designed Fusion’s over-scaled arch and screened seating area to create a visual block for hotel patrons walking through the lobby. “You know something is on the other side of that screen through

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Wolk designed Fusion’s over-scaled arch and screened seating area to create a visual block for hotel patrons walking through the lobby. “You know something is on the other side of that screen through the archway, but you don’t immediately identify it as a restaurant,” he says.
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Fusion Trump Beach Resort

Most of the furnishings found in Fusion are part of Michael Wolk’s new Academy collection for R. Jones.

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Most of the furnishings found in Fusion are part of Michael Wolk’s new Academy collection for R. Jones.
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Fusion Trump Beach Resort 2

"The collection has about a dozen pieces, and we got to use almost all of them. There are also some tables and miscellaneous pieces that are mine," says Wolk.

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"The collection has about a dozen pieces, and we got to use almost all of them. There are also some tables and miscellaneous pieces that are mine," says Wolk.
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Fusion Trump Beach Resort 3

Another look at Fusion's over-scaled arch, which creates a sense of intimacy and contains the space.

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Another look at Fusion's over-scaled arch, which creates a sense of intimacy and contains the space.
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Neomi Trump Beach Resort

Neomi’s, located on the second floor, also features Wolk’s furniture, including a white leather serpentine banquette.

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Neomi’s, located on the second floor, also features Wolk’s furniture, including a white leather serpentine banquette.
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Neomi Trump Beach Resort 2

Neomi’s makes use of a palette inspired by a sandy beach and blue sky. Reclaimed wood has also been used throughout the space.

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Neomi’s makes use of a palette inspired by a sandy beach and blue sky. Reclaimed wood has also been used throughout the space.
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Reception trump international beach resort

The reception desk at the Trump International Beach Resort, surrounded by warm stones and tile.

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The reception desk at the Trump International Beach Resort, surrounded by warm stones and tile.
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Lobby trump beach resort

The furnishings found at the resort all harken toward Wolk's Neo-Modern style. This seating area is found in the lobby.

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The furnishings found at the resort all harken toward Wolk's Neo-Modern style. This seating area is found in the lobby.
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lobby trump beach resort 3

The design team took its cues from the existing structural columns in the middle of the restaurant and the lobby’s multi-colored marble and stone floor.

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The design team took its cues from the existing structural columns in the middle of the restaurant and the lobby’s multi-colored marble and stone floor.
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academy r jones trump beach resort

“There’s somewhat of a comfort level,” Wolk says of the furnishings, “not literal comfort, but visual comfort to see things that feel like you’ve maybe seen them before and yet they still have a newne

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“There’s somewhat of a comfort level,” Wolk says of the furnishings, “not literal comfort, but visual comfort to see things that feel like you’ve maybe seen them before and yet they still have a newness and freshness."
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“Design is design, everything else is everything else.”

This is the straightforward philosophy espoused by Michael Wolk, and one that he applies to every project that passes his desk—including the decadent new Trump International Beach Resort, located in Sunny Isles Beach, Fla.

“The design drives all of the decisions, as opposed to the economics, a committee or arbitrary things,” he continues. “It’s all put into the formula of how we arrive at the solution, and that solution is always driven by the right design decision. The other things take a backseat to that.”

For the Trump resort, Wolk and his team at Michael Wolk Design Associates re-envisioned the lobby, reception and concierge areas, lobby-level Fusion lounge and restaurant, Neomi’s restaurant on the second floor, and are now at work on the third- and fourth-floor ballroom, meeting rooms, corridors and elevator landings. The “formula” that Wolk describes as part of the design solution is what he calls “a custom mix with applied design principles.”

“They have to do with scale, proportion, continuity, contrast and repetition, all of those basic design elements,” he says, “but when we put them into the mix, we come up with a new solution each time. There’s not one formula that applies to all our work.”

Working within the existing lobby space and restaurant presented a challenge, in that their overlapping expanses were both compromised. Fusion was in the middle of the lobby, intruding into the public areas, such as reception. Meanwhile, rather than creating the sense of a contained space, the restaurant placed diners in the middle of hotel traffic. “Neither of those ideas was really working on all eight pistons,” Wolk recalls. “The challenge was how to zone each one of those functions so that they worked together and separately to the maximum.”

Wolk designed Fusion’s over-scaled arch and screened seating area to create a visual block for hotel patrons walking through the lobby. “You know something is on the other side of that screen through the archway, but you don’t immediately identify it as a restaurant,” he says. “On the restaurant side, when you’re surrounded by that screen, there’s the intimacy of being in a restaurant or in a contained space. So it works for both of those needs.”

To create the ambience of both the restaurant and lobby, the design team took its cues from the existing structural columns in the middle of the restaurant and the lobby’s multi-colored marble and stone floor.

“We turned those things into one of the deciding factors in terms of our palette for the materials and fabrics,” says Wolk. “The floor wasn’t going anywhere, and we wrapped the columns with a drink rail, giving a sense that they were placed there, when in fact they were there before the restaurant. They could have been an intrusion, but we made them into a positive.” Warm woods, stones, tiles and fabrics were all coordinated to work with the flooring.

Most of the furnishings found in Fusion are part of Wolk’s new Academy collection for R. Jones, and harken toward Wolk’s Neo-Modern style, combining new and classic ideas. “There’s somewhat of a comfort level,” he says, “not literal comfort, but visual comfort to see things that feel like you’ve maybe seen them before and yet they still have a newness and freshness. To me, that’s always a fun challenge. The collection has about a dozen pieces, and we got to use almost all of them. There are also some tables and miscellaneous pieces that are mine.”